Dr Greg Bahnsen - Loving God With All Your Mind: What Does It Mean? (Part 1)

This recording has been released into the public domain by the Bonson Institute, where we aim to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Well, thank you very much for that welcome, and thanks for being here. On a day when many people would be more concerned with the national rankings in football. I think you've made the better choice, and I'll try to make it a good day for you. It's good to see you all. I hope I have an opportunity to meet many of you throughout the day, and as you've been told, I'll be happy to try to answer your questions. I don't always scratch where you're itching, but I'll make that effort if you'll write out whatever questions you have and they'll be collected at the end of the second and the fourth session. We'll do that. The people who are sponsoring the conference today, I put together a nice syllabus and I hope that you all have received one at the door, at the table. If you don't have one, you might want to pick one up. It will help you to follow us through the lectures. I will tell you, however, that when it was put together, those who broke down the sessions had a very high estimate of how much Dr. Bonsen could do in every session. And so we may not follow exactly the session breakdowns, but you will have some guide and place to take notes and so forth, which I hope many of you will do. We're going to be talking about loving God with all your mind today. And on page one of your syllabus, you see that we have some artwork that depicts a Christian and a non Christian interacting with each other. And this nicely picks up the really two things, actually that we want to do in our conference today. First of all, we want to talk about what it is for us to use our minds to the glory of God. And then secondly, what this means in terms of our interacting with people who don't use their minds to the glory of God. So we'll begin on page two. And let me begin by asking you what you might think if you read a headline that said, rampant immorality sweeps over the Christian church. Sometimes we have things that are put into the paper that indicate that Christians and the church have dirty laundry to be ashamed of. If you were to encounter a headline that talked about immorality sweeping over the church, what's the first thing that you would think of? What is this headline referring to? My guess is many of us would imagine that, once again, sadly, there's been some kind of sexual misconduct. Some pastors run off with his secretary or some kind of sex club within a church or something. And so here we have Christian hypocrites that are being exposed. Immorality is easily associated with sexual immorality. Or we might think it was financial impropriety. Rampant immorality sweeps over the church. That means pastors are stealing money or collecting funds and using them for things they they didn't say they'd be used for. People are getting rich off of innocent old ladies who send in their life savings to support some ministry when in fact the pastor is running off to Tahiti and having a great time with the money or whatever it may be. Rampant immorality sweeps over the church. If we got beyond the more visible and obvious and and celebrated sins that Christians are guilty of, sex, financial impropriety, we might even be sophisticated enough to say, oh, maybe that's a reference to all the verbal sins of Christians, how they gossip and backbite and they tell lies and so forth. Rampant immorality. Because we aren't using our mouths to the glory of God, we are speaking in a way that's displeasing to God. Well, I'm going to suggest to you that if you saw the headline about rampant immorality sweeping over the church, you might think about gossip, you might think about financial impropriety, you might think about sexual misconduct. But I doubt very much that any of you would think that this is a reference to the sins of the mind. Well, it might be a reference to the sins of the mind in terms of what we think about, although it's not likely that would get into the daily paper. Maybe those kinds of sins are being referred to when we think of rampant immorality. But this morning I want to suggest to you that rampant immorality has swept over the Christian church, But it's not the immorality of the very visible, social, celebrated type, if you will. It's the immorality that's quite private, kept to ourselves, and that's known primarily only by God as he reads our minds and he knows the way in which we think. It's not just what we think about that can make us sinful before God, but how we think and how we reason. Now, this is not the way people are used to thinking in the Christian church. We have an implicit upper and lower story mentality in the Christian church. We have this idea that there are things that are part of the here and now in our daily life, things that are really important, such as the way we speak to each other, the way we relate sexually or financially or whatever it may be. But then there's also the upper story of spirituality and the life of the mind, the life of the spirit, those things which are private. And not many of us worry very much about the discipline of that upper story. We are concerned, if nothing else, for our own reputation, for the discipline of the lower story, the visible, public areas of our lives. We wouldn't want to be caught in adultery. We don't like it when we tell a lie and someone finds out about that. So we may discipline ourselves there. But my guess is not many of you spend time during your daily devotions asking God to give you a disciplined mind, to think in a way that reflects the way he thinks, to think his thoughts after Him. It may be that you've asked God to purify your mind of lustful thoughts or hateful thoughts or things of that nature, and that's good. But what I'm referring to here is the life of the mind and the way in which we think, the way in which we use this tool of intellect that God has given us, the way that we use our minds, the way that we think is not considered very important by Christians. You will not ordinarily hear pastors preaching sermons on any aspect of what you're going to be hearing today. The suggestion that Christians might want to, for instance, study logic, that Christians might want to know something about philosophy, that Christians might have an interest in intellectual matters is just not brought up in the church. It's not promoted. It's certainly not the world's concept of what Christians are interested in. It's commonly thought that Christianity is basically an emotional commitment. When one becomes a Christian, that means that his or her emotions have changed. They love different things, they get excited about different things. They have different feelings. But the idea that becoming a Christian means that you think in a different way, that you have different patterns of thought, different standards, different concerns, for what you will accomplish with the life of your mind is just not considered. The world doesn't expect you to be intellectual. You don't expect to be intellectual, and you don't think there's anything wrong with that. So please turn with me in your Bibles this morning to Matthew, the 22nd chapter, Matthew 22. We're going to be focusing on verses 37 and 38 here, but let me put it in context for you by reading at the 34th verse and hear God's word now, as it is God's word. But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, gathered themselves together, and one of them, a lawyer. I'm sorry, Jeff, sometimes lawyers get a bad reputation. We have those jokes about them already back here in the New Testament. Lawyers are getting the wrap. Well, here it is. One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, putting him to the test, teacher, which is the great commandment in the law. And he said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments, the whole law hangs in the prophets. Now, what's the setting here? What is it that has provoked the Pharisees and the Jewish leaders to come and put Jesus to the test? Well, it tells us right here in verse 34, that when they heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, the Pharisees gathered themselves together. You see, Jesus has put down the Sadducees. They have tried to trip him up, and he has actually been a better debater. He has brought up answers that they didn't think he'd be able to come up with. Jesus has, in the intellectual arena, silenced his opponents. That is the setting in which they say, okay, we've got a better question. We'll trip him up with this. We'll ask him which is the great commandment in the law. Do notice the debate context here? Jesus has outsmarted his opponents, if we could use an earthly expression here. Of course we know he's outsmarted them because he isn't just earthly. He is the very Son of God. But the point is, from the standpoint of those who saw him, he was smarter than these people who were going to bring him down. And the people who were going to bring him down were known for their intellectual. They had this stature for being the thinkers of their day, and Jesus outwitted them. And so now the Pharisees say, no, maybe we can do him in. And so they come and they raise this question, which is fairly common in that day, apparently in Jewish polemics and thinking. Often people would debate this issue, which is the great commandment in the law. And by that, what they meant is not which commandment should you follow and leave all the others undone, but rather, which commandment in the law is the heaviest, the greatest, because it encompasses the broadest perspective on our duty before God, which commandment encompasses more than anything else among the other commandments? And Jesus answers this question by citing Deuteronomy, the fourth chapter in the Shema of Israel. He says, you should know this already. You who profess orthodox faith as Jews should know that the great commandment, the one that encompasses everything, is the commandment that says, you shall love the Lord your God. And now let's notice how Jesus puts this in verse 37. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy money. No, no. You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul and mouth. Is that what you're. No. No. Okay. You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind. God calls on us to use our minds to his glory and to show our affection and devotion to him in the way that we think it is very possible. Therefore, since this is the great commandment, this is the one that encompasses all the rest. It is quite possible for us to be rampantly immoral as Christians in the life of our minds, though we don't think about that. And the world doesn't think that's what Christianity is all about. The Christ thought that that is what Christianity was about, because he said, when you love the Lord and you follow him, you are to follow him with your mind. In John, the eighth chapter, Jesus tells us about discipleship, what it really means to be a Christian and to come after him, to be his student, to be his disciple. John 8, at the 31st verse, Jesus therefore said to those Jews that had believed him, if you abide in my word, then are you truly my disciples? And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Is there something that's a little distressing about this passage to you? Should be. You notice what Jesus says? He's talking to those who profess to believe him. That's how the passage begins. Jesus therefore said to those Jews that had believed him. And here's what he says to those who have believed him. If you do something, then you are truly my disciples. That word truly should bother you, should make you a bit uneasy, because Jesus is telling us there's a difference between false discipleship and true discipleship. There's a difference between those who profess to follow him and the real article. There is a kind of discipleship that's only apparent, that's only outward, and is not genuine at all. And the reason that should distress you is because that means you have to examine yourself and say, well, am I truly a Christian? Am I Really a disciple of Jesus? Well, what does Jesus give us to help answer that question? What is the criterion that Jesus lays down by which we can tell if we genuinely follow Him? He says, if you abide in my word, then are you truly my disciples? And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. If we were to have a survey that was distributed to the Christian church in our day, or to people who think they understand what Christianity is all about, we were to ask them, what is the true mark of being a Christian, being a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ? I wonder if this is the answer we would get back. I think, you know, it isn't the answer we would get back. We get back something like, well, if you're truly a Christian, you go to church regularly. I mean, not that I'm against going to church regularly, mind you, or if you're really a Christian, then of course you're going to help the poor. You're going to have certain attitudes about problems in our society, or you're going to pray a lot or whatever it may be. But Jesus tells us that the true disciple is the one who abides in His Word. The word to abide here in the Greek means to take up your dwelling, to reside there, and to remain there. And so we live in the midst of Jesus word. It is the context of our lives. It informs all of our thinking, all of our feeling, all of our plans. It is that through which the atmosphere in terms of which we think and through which we see the world and evaluate the world we are to live in the Word of God, if we truly are Jesus disciples. And then if we do live in that Word as true disciples, we will know the truth, a truth that will liberate us. There's plenty of people who want to proclaim liberation in our day and age, both to the church and outside the church. And Jesus tells us liberation is tied to knowing His Word because it's only in the truth that we can be set free. The truth that Jesus himself himself brings. The truth that is in Jesus himself. So the reason why we're having this day conference is to learn how to love God with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind. It's important because if we are true Christians, we want to know the Word of God. We want to think correctly. We want to have the truth that sets us free. And so let's ask ourselves if we wish to love God with all of our mind, what that will mean. I want to suggest to you a number of things. Four or five things that you ought to be pursuing if you love God with all of your mind. And then we'll get to some of the obstacles to doing so. First of all, loving God with all of our minds means that we are interested in pursuing godly wisdom. That really is of interest to us. It takes priority for us. You ever stop to think what you would do if you were given three wishes? Have you ever played that game mentally with yourself? You know, you can have any three things you want. What would they be? Or maybe one thing. Of course, those who have thought this through and are really good at playing the game realize that if you had one wish, what you would wish for is three more wishes, right? Well, what is it you would have if you could have anything? Would you win the lottery? Have $11 million? I think that's what it is here in Idaho this weekend. What would you do with all that money? Ah, you wouldn't have to work, you know, you'd have a wonderful place to live in. You think about the car you might drive or cars you might drive, the vacations you might take. You could have anything. Would it be a happy marriage? Is that what you would wish for? Safety and health for your children? Maybe not selfish things necessarily, but I wonder if it ever crosses your mind, if God were to grant you one wish. Would it cross your mind to ask for wisdom? You know what I'm referring to. There was a time in the Bible where a man was given this opportunity. God asked Solomon to request one thing, anything he wanted. And Solomon showed that he had wisdom, at least at that point in his life, because what he asked for was wisdom. The book of Proverbs tells us that wisdom is more to be desired than rubies. Believe it or not, it would be better that you had wisdom than you won the lottery. The Bible tells us that that is more important than any of the other things your heart might desire. It's better to have wisdom than money. It's better to have wisdom than fame. It's better to have wisdom than power. Wisdom is the principal thing. And so the book of Proverbs says, then pursue wisdom. Obviously, then if we love God with all of our mind, we should make it one of the priorities of our lives, that we would become wise people. I want you to look at Colossians 2:3 and what the apostle Paul tells us about the Lord Jesus Christ. There, having spoken of the mystery of God, which is Christ, Paul now says in verse 3 of Colossians 2, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge deposited. If you love the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to pursue him and be his disciple, you need to realize that you're pursuing one who is the depository of wisdom knowledge. To be a Christian is to be someone who wants to be wise. Therefore, and of course to find that wisdom in the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word, you might want to take just a moment and ask yourself, examine your own desires. Examine your prayer life. Ask yourself, is this what I'm looking for? Is this what I would request of God? Do I really care that I'm a wise person? Secondly, if you love God with all of your mind, the Bible tells us that you will be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12:1 2. There Paul says, I beseech you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. And be not fashioned according to this world. Now, since Paul has just spoken of presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, it might be natural enough for us to think that when Paul says we're not to be fashioned according to this world, that means we're not in the life of our bodies to do the things the world does. We're not to be worldly. Maybe we're not supposed to dress in a worldly or provocative way, or to be sexually impure, or to tell lies or whatever it may be with our bodies. However, in verse two, if you read on, it's clear here that Paul believes the key to presenting ourselves as living sacrifices to God is found not so much in the behavior of the body, but in the life of the mind. And be not fashioned according to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove or better approve what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God. To have a mind that is transformed, that doesn't think as the world thinks, that isn't patterned after worldly thinking or desires or priorities or reasoning. To have a mind that is renewed by the Holy Spirit so that it will know and recognize and approve God's perfect will. If we love God with all of our minds, we want to be renewed, not conformed to the world, but transformed with renewed minds. To love God with all of our mind, thirdly means that with these transformed minds that are pursuing wisdom, we want to make every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 10, verses 4 and 5, 2nd Corinthians 10. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, nevertheless are mighty before God. For the casting down of strongholds. Casting down. Isn't this interesting? Casting down reasonings, Paul says, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God. And how is that done? Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. We tend to think that our thought life should be disciplined to think about Jesus and obey him. When we go to church, that's obvious enough, you probably have trouble when you listen to the preacher with your mind wandering. You're thinking about what you're going to do that afternoon, or problems in your life and so forth. You know you're supposed to have a disciplined mind, pay attention to the sermon. You also know that you're supposed to glorify God by thinking about the right things. But have you ever stopped to think that every thought that you have, every line of reasoning that you pursue, should be obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ, should be brought into captivity to Christ? Because Jesus does not accept any discount discipleship from his people. When we follow him, he doesn't say, look, I'll be happy to take 40% of your life. Jesus says, you offer me 60%. Wow, that's really good. You know, there was a day when a man came and said, jesus, I want to follow you, but I have to go home and bury my Father. And Jesus said, forget it. That disturbs many of us. We don't understand the hyperbole that's involved there. See, Jesus doesn't want anything held back, not even time to bury the dead. Let the dead bury the dead. Jesus says, you come follow me. Jesus doesn't accept discount discipleship. And he doesn't accept just your thoughts on Sunday or your thoughts during personal devotions throughout the week. Jesus wants all of your thoughts. Bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ if you truly love him. Fourthly, if we love God with all of our minds, we're going to want to discern good from evil. We can't think godly thoughts. We can't use reasoning that's pleasing to God. If we don't draw a distinction between what is right and what is wrong, what is godly, what is ungodly, what is righteous and unrighteous. Let's look at Hebrews the fifth chapter for a moment. Hebrews chapter 5. In the 11th verse of Hebrews 5, the author says that he has many more things to say, especially about the priesthood of Melchizedek. But he says they're hard of interpretation, they're difficult to understand. And the reason why they're difficult to understand, he says, is because you have become dull of hearing verse 12. For when by reason of time you ought to be teachers, you have need again that someone teach you the rudimentary principles of the oracles of God and are such as have need of milk and not of solid food. For everyone who partakes of milk is without experience of the word of righteousness, for he is a child. But solid food is for full grown men, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil. When we are exercised in the use of Scripture, when we have paid attention to the word of Jesus Christ and we live and abide in his Word, the Bible tells us this exercise in using Scripture is going to enable us to discern good and evil. Now we live in a day and an age that doesn't want good and evil discerned. The spirit of our day is the spirit of tolerance. In fact, if you draw moral distinctions, then you're some kind of a self righteous bigot. In our day, people are going to want to not be around you. If you're one of those kinds of censorious Christians who say this is right and that is wrong. But you see, God tells us that it's a mark of maturity in our spiritual lives that we can draw those distinctions and do them in a way that pleases God. And the only way we'll be able to do it is if our senses have been exercised. If we've really used the word of God we've worked out with the Scriptures, if you will. You know, if you were to open your paper today just about in any major city and go through the pages, you probably would be surprised at how many advertisements, whole page ads, many times there are for health clubs and for exercise equipment and for diet fads and for all these sorts of things are supposed to help us get into shape physically. You know very well that you're not going to be able to go out there and bench press £250 if you don't first work up to that. You've got to exercise and exercise and exercise. And likewise, Christians shouldn't expect that they're able to use their minds to please God and to draw the difficult distinctions between right and wrong in this day in which we live, if they aren't adept at using the Bible, if we haven't become exercised in the use of God's word, if you love God with all of your mind, then you're going to want to be able to draw these distinctions. You're going to pursue godly wisdom, as I told you you're going to want to be transformed by the renewing of your mind not conformed to the world. You're thirdly going to want to make every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. And in your use of Scripture, you're going to be able to discern good from evil and to please God thereby. There's an amazing verse in 1 Corinthians 2 that I want you to look at with me here. First Corinthians 2 at the very end of a discussion where Paul talks about the thinking of the natural man and the thinking of the man who is led by the Spirit of God. In verse 16, Paul says, For who has known the mind of the Lord that he should instruct him? That's a rhetorical question. No one is in a position to instruct God. But then Paul adds, but you know, it's amazing. We have the mind of Christ that's characteristic of the Spirit filled Christian to have the mind of Christ, to be wise, to be renewed, to make every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, to discern good from evil, and to think in such a way that we can even say our mind is the mind of Christ. But unfortunately, as the hymn tells us, we're prone to wander, aren't we? I began the session by talking about rampant immorality in the church. I've given you some idea of what the Bible means by loving God with all of your mind. Would you say that this is characteristic of you? Is this characteristic of the Christians? You know, let's not just talk about whether you have accomplished these things. Let's just ask whether you're even interested in these things. Are you even pursuing them? The Christians, you know, do they pursue these things? Is this a value in the Christian church? And I think, you know, the answer is no. It hasn't been valuable. In our own lives. We are prone to wander from the love of God and in the life of the mind. Our proneness to wander means we don't love him with all of our thinking. We don't seek to please him. Turn to 1 John 2:15, 16, 1 John 2:15 16. There the apostle John says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and, and the vainglory of life is not of the Father, but of the world. Jesus tells us we are to love God with all of our heart, soul and mind, but the beloved Apostle tells us that we are tempted to give our love to the world instead. It's much easier to love the things that are in the world, to think as the world thinks, to run with the crowd, to have a mind that uses patterns of reasoning and priorities and standards that are common to worldly thinking. And yet we are told we are not to love the world. We are not to seek to gain those things that the world offers the vain glory of life. We are not supposed to want to be worldly people. We need to be transformed. In James the fourth chapter, in verse four, we read these words, you adulteresses, don't you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. When someone doesn't love God with all that is in him, including his mind, but rather runs with the world thinks as the world thinks, is satisfied with worldly standards and evaluations, concerns, desires and so forth. When someone is worldly, James says that that friendship with the world is first of all enmity with God. I'd like to think that what we're doing here on this Saturday conference is giving kind of an enrichment course in Christianity. It's kind of like there is your first level Christian commitment that everybody has. And then there are those Christians who go to Saturday conferences and they want to really tool up their Christian life and they have the additive of this loving God with all their minds. But you see, James 4 tells us, I mean, whether people could come to our conference or not is not the issue here. James 4 tells us that loving God with all of our mind and not being seduced by the world is not a matter of being a second level Christian. That has the additive. It's a matter of being a Christian at all. Because those who love the world are God's enemies. It's not as though you have those who are in this middle ground here. They love Jesus and then some want to give their minds and their thoughts and their affections to him. And then there are those people over here that in the third category who hate God. There are only two categories. And those who side with the world in their thinking, in their desires and their behavior are God's enemies. And James calls them adulteresses. And that's why when I began our session this morning and talked about rampant immorality, I suggested you think of immorality as sexual immorality. The Bible says it's possible for you to be an adulteress. And it has nothing to do with the use of your genital organs has everything to do with your mind. There are people who have prostituted themselves to the world because they don't think thoughts that are pleasing to the Lord Jesus Christ. And they aren't concerned for a disciplined life. They aren't concerned for a disciplined thought pattern. They aren't concerned that they think God's thoughts after him. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Do you love God this morning? Then the Bible says you should love him with your mind. And if you love him with your mind, your desire is for wisdom, for transformation, to make every thought captive to Christ, to be exercised in the Scripture that you can discern good from evil, and to be concerned that you not wander into a life of spiritual and mental adultery because you have made a friendship with the world and you have loved it and the things it offers and the way that it thinks and the things that it offers you its priorities. Rather than loving God with all that is in you now, there are a number of obstacles to our loving God with all of our minds. Let me see if I can cover a few of these before we take our first break this morning. What is it that keeps you from doing what we've talked about in these opening remarks? Well, you could probably add to the list, but I think the first thing that is an obstacle to Christians loving God with all of their minds is ignorance of the Word of God. In Matthew, the 19th chapter, Jesus says to his opponents, you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God. You do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God. The fact of the matter is that in our day and age, biblical ignorance is appalling. Christians who never read the Bible or rarely read the Bible, who don't pay a great deal of attention when the Bible is expounded and know hardly anything. I know Christians, people who claim to love the Lord Jesus Christ, who couldn't tell you whether Noah or David came first in the Bible. I'm serious. That probably doesn't characterize those who would get up on a football Saturday and come to a conference. But I want you to know that that ignorance is rampant in the church. It's appalling. I know Christians who have never read the Old Testament. That's not because I'm obsessed with the Old Testament. Some people think I am, I'm not. But I think the whole word of God is to be read, to be known, because all Scripture is inspired of God is profitable. And yet I know Christians who have never read the Old Testament don't know much of it. Last night I had occasion to say with sadness, I hope not with any arrogance at all. Even pastors in our day and age are abysmally ignorant of their theology. Even in the best denominations, those that have a reputation for theological astuteness. It's incredible how little pastors know theologically. It maybe is a little embarrassing to share this with you, but let me tell you, for many years, one of the things that would upset me, I mean, not that I'm upset to help people, mind you, but what upset me is that I'd start getting calls on Saturday afternoon and evening from pastors who are working out their sermons for the next morning. And what do we do with this difficult text in front of us? That was not an uncommon thing for me. And again, I mean, I'm happy to help God's people, but it concerns me when those who are to be pastors and teaching God's people, first of all, haven't worked out their problems until Saturday, and then they're calling me to work these things out. Or many times I'll get calls from pastors that have difficult counseling situations. We all need one another, and there are many cases that are so complicated, so many scrambled egg situations in our culture, that it's good for us to talk to one another, but it's not pleasing when someone calls. I'll give you a common example. A pastor will call and say, we have an elder in our church and his daughter has gotten pregnant out of wedlock. What should I do? And the reason that concerns me is because. Were you aware of the fact the Bible speaks directly to that issue? I mean, the answer is right there on the surface of the text of Scripture. It's not one of the things where I have to look for underlying principles and ask, how do we integrate this problem and this complex and this qualification and so forth? The Old Testament specifically tells us that when a girl has been seduced that her father is to make the determination whether she's to marry this man or not. So I'll ask, well, have you gotten together with the father and asked what he thinks should be done? What's in the best interest of his daughter? Then you'll have people say, boy, that's really a good idea. That's the way it should be. I said, well, of course it's a good idea. It's God's. But what concerns me, and the reason I bring this up here, is not to talk about counseling, but to talk about ignorance. If even pastors don't Know their Bibles, don't know their theology. How much more can we expect? That's true of those who are in the pew. Is that true of you? My guess is not many of you. It's not just a matter of, you know, wanting to be humble and so forth. Not many of you would want to stand up and say, oh, Dr. Bonson, go ahead, give me a Bible quiz right now. I'm ready. All of us feel weak at this point. And what does Jesus say? You do not know the Scriptures, nor the power of God. One of the greatest obstacles to loving God with all of our mind is just not knowing what God has said. Because you can't live what you don't know. People don't accidentally get righteous. Have you ever thought about that? People don't stumble onto righteousness. You need to know what God's commandments are. You need to know what His Word teaches, if you would love him with all your mind. A second and related obstacle to loving God with all of your mind is immaturity in the use of Scripture. Not only are you ignorant of what the Bible teaches, but you are immature because you have not been obeying God's commands and exercising yourself to that end. We've just read in Hebrews, the fifth chapter, we don't need to turn back to it. But you remember how the author says that to discern good and evil is built on what exercise by mature men in the meat of the Word. Those who obey God, who are exercised by, understand God's Word better. And those who understand God's Word better can obey him better. And those who obey him better can understand His Word better. And those who understand His Word better can obey him better. Have you seen that dynamic there? The author of Hebrews says it's not a matter that you finally get all of these intellectual things worked out and then you obey. But rather obedience leads to the ability to understand. And then of course, your ability to understand enables you to obey better. And so these two influence one another. And if you are immature, if you're not exercised in that circle of understanding, obedience, greater understanding, greater obedience. Thirdly, I believe that an obstacle to loving God with all of our minds is the anti intellectual bias that's in the church today. We've already had occasion to refer to this. Most people think of Christianity as an emotional matter, or if you will, a volitional commitment to follow Jesus. But not many people think of Christianity as having to do with the life of the mind, not having to do with intellectual matters. In fact, intellectual matters are not just ignored. They're denigrated. In the Christian church in our day, we're told we're supposed to love God with our hearts. Meaning, of course, were to love God with some kind of emotional fervency. Those who say that, of course, have never done a biblical study of the use of the word heart. Because in the Bible, a man thinks in his heart, he also thinks in his mind. There are different ways of talking about it. But as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Think about that. Reflect on that. The heart is the inner life of a man, Whether it's his decisions, whether it's his emotions or his intellect. To love God with all of our heart Includes loving God with all of our minds. Recently, I was in Russia and had a translator there in the city of Moscow. Was a Christian, a young man at the university. And really came to love him and appreciated his friendship. And after I had been there two weeks and he had been translating for me. He paid me a very nice compliment. With tears in his eyes, I was getting ready to leave. He said, Dr. Bonson, in the two weeks that I've been translating for you. I've learned more theology than in two years of being a Christian. So God has given me a disciple, you know, and my translator. I really appreciated him. But while I was there, we had this interesting discussion I'd like to share with you for a moment. We had just come away from the university. Where in this secular school full of atheists and former Communists and so forth. They'd been defending the faith. And I could tell as we left what Gennady was saying. That this was very exhilarating for him. To be able to be in a situation, a public situation. Where Christianity was being assaulted and there were answers. We were able to refute our opponents and so forth. And yet in the van, as we were going back to the hotel. I could tell that he also was feeling some kind of inner tension. I pursued this, and he said, well, this is so exciting to do this and to learn these things. But he said, isn't it more important. Isn't it more important to love God than to know God? Now, you might feel somewhat bad about that. If an American Christian, Someone who's had the freedom of worship and. And good church training. Should make that kind of mistake. Please remember that for years, those like Gennady, who were Christians, had to worship in secret. Who had to go to their prayer meetings with radios blasting. So the KGB would not be able to tell what they were doing and so forth. They haven't had a great deal of instruction. However, the fact of the matter is that the mistake that was made by Gennady when he said that is a mistake that is not uncommon in, in our part of the world either. People think, well, you have the love of God over here and then you have knowing God over here. And if you have to choose between them, isn't loving God more important than knowing God? I suggested to Gennady, as I'll suggest to you, that we look at Philippians the first chapter. Turn with me to Philippians chapter one and look at verse nine. Paul says in this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment. How does the love of the Christian abound? How does it flourish? Does Paul say, well, of course, it's one thing to have knowledge over here, but it's far more important to pursue love. He says, no, love flourishes in knowledge and discernment. These shouldn't be pitted against one another. They serve each other. To love God is to know God. In John 17:3, Jesus tells us that this is life eternal. He's praying to the Father to know thee and the one whom thou hast sent. This is eternal life to know God. The anti intellectual bias of the Christian church is contrary to the Scriptures. Love abounds in knowledge. Knowledge is the key to eternal life. And I think that the church will not be transformed and will not come to appreciate the things we're studying and talking about this day until the church gets rid of this bias against the life of the mind and about intellect. I think a fifth obstacle to loving God with all of our minds is another problem in the church and in the world as well. And that's the myth of neutrality. The idea is here that in the life of the mind there are some areas where you don't have to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ that it's possible to think just as the world does. I mean the. There's no more a Christian way to plant a peach tree than there is a non Christian way to plant a peach tree. There's just a way to plant a peach tree, right? And so that's a neutral subject. When we think about planting peach trees. We don't think in a Christian way or to glorify God. But the Bible tells us that it is impossible to be neutral in anything that we do. Look at Matthew 12:30, Matthew 12:30 verse. He that is not with me is against me. When we are thinking and we are reasoning we are either going to be with Jesus, bringing every thought captive, or we are going to be against Jesus. He doesn't say, there are some places where you obey me, some ways that people disobey me, and then there is this middle ground where it's neither one or the other. If you're not with him, you are against him. In Matthew 6:24, referring to the life of money, which is where we usually apply this text, Jesus tells us, it's impossible to serve two masters. One cannot be neutral in the life of the mind. And the attempt to be neutral is in fact disloyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ. Again in John, the 17th chapter, look now at the 17th verse, John 17:17, Jesus prays, sanctify them, set them apart, consecrate them by the truth. Thy word is truth. If we are not set apart and made distinctive, if we are not consecrated by the word of truth that is given by the Lord Jesus Christ, then we are disloyal to Jesus himself. He expects our thinking to be distinctive, to be holy and sanctified, set apart by the truth itself. In fact, Ephesians the fourth chapter, the apostle Paul makes it very clear that there are two ways of thinking, two different mentalities. In Ephesians 4:17, he says this. I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk. And how is it that they walk? In the vanity of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart? Paul tells us that we are not to think as the Gentiles do, with vain thoughts and ignorance and hardened hearts. Verse 20 says, but you did not so learn Christ, if so be that you heard him, and were taught in him, even as the truth is in Jesus. There's two ways of thinking, like the Gentiles do and like those who have been taught by Christ. And we aren't to walk as the Gentiles do, there can be no neutrality, no two lords. Those who are not with Jesus in their thinking are against him. And yet so much of the thinking of Christians, and of their pastors included, tells them that Christianity is a narrow slice of life and that even those who are concerned with theology, not a whole lot of pastors are, but even those who are concerned with theology will often think, well, that has to do with one part of life. But Christianity deals with all of life, and there can be no compromise in our thinking, no matter what we're thinking about we're to be Christians, distinctively Christians, when we think about politics and education and money and family life and entertainments and art and industry and vocation and whatever it may be. Because in everything that we do, we are to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, living in the midst of His Word. So the myth of neutrality, of course, is an obstacle to loving God with all of our minds. Fifthly, slothfulness is an obstacle to loving God with all of our minds. The fact of the matter is, we don't study, read, and meditate on the Word of God. The Book of Proverbs I don't have time to pursue this at length, but the Book of Proverbs tells us that slothfulness, laziness, is a mark of the fool. Proverbs 10:4 he becomes poor that works with a slack hand, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. Proverbs 13:4 the soul of the sluggard desires, but has nothing, but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. Proverbs 24 the sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter therefore he shall beg in the harvest and have nothing. Proverbs 26:16 the sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason. It's amazing. I've taught students for many years now at all levels, and I found this to be true. The lazy students are not always the stupid ones, because lazy students come up with the most clever, creative reasons for not having their work done. And that's what the Book of Proverbs tells us. In that last verse we just read. The sluggard can come up with all these wonderful reasons. You see, he's so clever, but he spends his time making excuses for what he doesn't do, rather than using his mind to go out and the skills that God has given him to do the things he should be doing. And the fact of the matter is that most Christians are fools because they are lazy. I hate to stand before you and talk about these things, because I know that before God I have to often ask that he forgive my lack of discipline, my laziness as well. But from one lazy guy to another, let me exhort you. We will never love God with all of our minds and know His Word if we don't become diligent students of Scripture. Because I've been a pastor and because I know my own heart, I can tell you that it is often the case that Christians will say, if I had more time, then I'd be able to Study the Bible. If I had more time, then I'd be able to know the things that I should and spend some time in meditation and diligent study of the Scripture. The fact of the matter is that's not true. Stop and ask yourself, what do you do when you have this wonderful opportunity? Let's say you get off work an hour early or you have a day off, a holiday comes up. How do you use your time? Does it cross your mind to say, oh, I've been waiting to read this really good book that will teach me more about God's Word? Do you say, oh, finally, I can put in 15 minutes of Bible reading today rather than none at all or just a couple of passing moments of reflection. The fact is that if we will not, with the schedules that we now have, carve out the time because it's a priority, because it's crucial to our lives to read God's Word, that when God gives us that more time, we're not going to give that time to reading Scripture and studying it either. The percentages are going to be about the same. If you're accustomed to giving less than 1% of your time to reading God's Word, the extra time you get, you're probably going to use less than 1% of it to study God's Word. We are lazy, aren't we? If we love God with all of our minds, we've got to shake off that sluggardly slothful attitude and say, I'm going to make it a priority. Another problem with loving God with all of our minds is that we don't have the critical tools that we need to reason as we should as Christians. I don't want to be a walking advertisement here this morning, but we do at the study center offer as a correspondence course, a course in critical thinking teaches Christians what argumentation and reasoning is all about, what fallacious reasoning is, how to avoid it, how to engage in debate and analysis, and so forth. I'm glad that's one of our most popular courses. Maybe you'd be interested in yourself. But whether you take a course from us or a course somewhere else, or whether you study on your own, the fact of the matter is most critical. Christians have no idea what a good argument looks like, what a bad argument is. They can't tell the difference between them. They don't know what fallacious reasoning is. Let me give you an example. If I were to tell you if Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, then Shakespeare is a great author. And then I were to say, and we know that Shakespeare was a great author. Therefore, Shakespeare wrote Hamlet. You might say, well, every one of those premises is true. If Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, he is a great author. Secondly, he is a great author. And thirdly, he did write Hamlet. And so what's the problem here? Well, the problem is the line of reasoning is utterly fallacious. Let me give you an alternative. If Shakespeare wrote Paradise Lost, he's a great author. Is that true? Sure, it's true. Whoever wrote Paradise Lost is a great author because that's a great work of English literature. If Shakespeare wrote Paradise Lost, he's a great author. Second premise, Shakespeare is a great author. Conclusion, he wrote Paradise Lost. Utterly fallacious. For those of you who are a little confused, John Milton wrote Paradise Lost, not Shakespeare. Now, it's one thing for us to kind of laugh at a silly illustration like that with something that doesn't count very much, but it's terrible when Christians are reasoning about the word of God, God and their lives and morality and discerning good from evil. And they create logic. I mean, they engage in logical fallacies that are so embarrassing and so misleading. We can't love God with all of our minds if we don't think clearly. We don't think in a reasonable way. Christians need to be trained in the use of logic and argumentation and clarity of thought. Seventhly, an obstacle to loving God with all of our minds, obviously, is thinking about the wrong subject matter. What is it that you daydream about? Here's what the Apostle Paul tells us in that regard In Philippians the fourth chapter, verses 8 and 9, Philippians 4. At the eighth verse, Paul says, finally, brothers, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report. If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. The things which you both learned and received and heard and saw in me. These things do, and the God of peace shall be with you. Sadly, Christians don't love God with all of their minds because they don't think about those things that are lovely and of good report. Often our minds are in the gutter. Often our minds dwell on bitter things and sinful things and things that are not pleasing to God. And even in those things that are not rampantly immoral or outwardly immoral, we often use our minds to frit away the time and not to think about those things which are possible, positive, and pleasing to God. All of us have the ability, you know, to use the channel changer, not just with the tv, but with our minds. How often do you discipline yourself to make sure that you keep your mind on a channel that's pleasing to God and to turn away from those thoughts that are destructive of your Christian life are not pleasing to God. Not lovely of good report. So our conference today is about loving God with all of our minds. I told you what that is positively at least part of what the Bible would tell you you should be doing if you love Him. And I've tried to give you some of the obstacles. The last obstacle that I want to mention, however, is the one that's going to take us into our next session, and that is captivity to the presuppositions of the world. In Colossians 2. 8, the apostle Paul gives us a command which I'm convinced after years of teaching and experience in the Christian church most Christians don't even know about, certainly don't pursue. And here's the command. Paul says, take heed, lest there be anyone who defrauds you through his philosophy and vain deceit. That's after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Paul says, be careful that you are not made captive by worldly philosophy. Now most people would say, well, the best way to do that is not to study philosophy at all. Then you don't have to worry about it. We'll get into that in our next session. But here Paul tells us we can't love God with all of our mind if we're being mugged, if we're being defrauded, if we're being robbed by that philosophy that is after the rudiments of the world, and not a philosophy that's after Christ. Most Christians don't think they need to have a philosophy that is according to Christ. They don't need to have a philosophy at all. They'll tell you. But here Paul says, you are to avoid worldly philosophy and you're to have a Christian philosophy in its place. And if you don't, he says you're being robbed. Now in verse eight, he talks about being robbed or mugged. In verse three, he said, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are deposited in Christ. What do you think then in verse eight, he's referring to when he says you're being robbed, you're being robbed of all those treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And the way in which you're being robbed is because you are captive to the rudiments or, if you will, the presuppositions of worldly philosophy. So after we take a short break here and we come back. I'm going to begin to talk to you about what a worldview is, what a philosophy is, so that you might learn to avoid worldly thinking and to think more as a Christian and in so doing, love God with all of your mind. Let's review here before we take this break. Do you love God with all of your mind? Do you pursue godly wisdom? Is that a priority? Are you renewed in your mind, transformed rather than conformed to the world? Are you making every thought captive to the obedience of Christ being exercised in the word of God to discern good from evil? Making sure you don't become a mental prostitute by loving the world? If you would love God with all of your mind, then make sure you avoid the obstacles of ignorance of God's Word, immaturity in the use of God's Word, the anti intellectual bias that often characterizes the church, and the myth of neutrality that trips up so many Christians, the slothfulness that keeps us from reading the scripture and studying it, the lack of critical tools of reasoning that we might think clearly in a way that pleases God, having the wrong channel in our mind, not thinking about those godly positive things we should, and then finally being sure that we're not made captive and robbed by worldly philosophy of all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that are found in Christ. This lays out a program for us and in our next session I'm going to take us a step further and try explain how we can obey this Command in Colossians 2, 8 to avoid worldly philosophy. Thank you, Jeff.

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